


stay a while, you are so beautiful

by slotumn



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Bittersweet, Bittersweet Ending, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kid Fic, Kissing, Post-Church Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), Pregnancy, Soft Claude von Riegan, lots of cuddling and kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:54:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27549427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slotumn/pseuds/slotumn
Summary: Lysithea sighed and raised him back up, holding his face between her hands so that he couldn't look away."Accomplishing our tasks now is going to make things easier for our children later. You know that, don't you?""I also know that spending time with younowis just as important," he said, overlapping his hands over hers to stroke them.Because we won't have the chance later, wasn't spoken out loud, but both of them heard it, knew it, better than anything else.
Relationships: Lysithea von Ordelia/Claude von Riegan
Comments: 2
Kudos: 13
Collections: Slotumn Portfolio





	stay a while, you are so beautiful

**Author's Note:**

> Filling my angst quota for these two with a "Lysithea chooses to go through with a pregnancy knowing it'll kill her" fic.

"Hey, what happened to getting some rest?"

The queen of Almyra rarely left the innermost chambers of the royal palace, and today was no exception, as Lysithea sat in bed with a lap desk and busily moved the fountain pen in her hands.

"I _am_ resting— see, in bed, just like you told me to."

Queen— the title still felt unfamiliar to Lysithea; it was the epitome of not just nobility, but royalty, which the Alliance was created to _not_ be ruled by. 

Ah, but the Alliance was no more, Lysithea remembered, with a bitter pang.

How ironic, that the one time her homeland acted according to its original ideals— the one time her fellow foolish aristocrats willingly cooperated to stand up for their people, the one time they took up arms for a greater purpose instead of bickering amongst themselves— was at its own decimation.

And how utterly futile that Alliance's bloody end at that field was for nothing, because the last she heard, the Empire that destroyed them had also fallen, to none other than the Resistance Army. 

She pushed those thoughts aside as Khalid moved her lap desk to the nightstand, kissed her, and crawled into the bed.

"Don't you have a meeting later this evening?" she asked. 

"Cancelled it," he replied, running a hand through her hair.

"Khalid."

"Those meetings never accomplish much, anyway. My... _other_ methods always work better in yielding results," he said. "But enough about that. How are my favorite people in the whole world doing?"

Lysithea gave a light pat on her own abdomen before giving him a peck on the cheek. "Coming up with some new tariff and trade policies to help Papa, until he came in and interrupted us."

"Aw, already so clever, like their mom, aren't they."

"Sure are."

With a chortle, her husband scooted down the bed to kiss her belly. It was slightly bigger than what one would normally expect at that point in pregnancy; twins, according to what the doctors told them weeks earlier. She was very glad to hear it, as it would mean they won't be lonely growing up— and Khalid, who must have had complicated thoughts on the fact she chose to go through with this all, managed to squeeze out a convincing enough smile.

"Are they kicking?" he asked, turning to press his ears on the surface. 

"I think so," she replied. "I've felt some flutters in there earlier...that's what it feels like at first, according to the midwives and doctors."

"And they're...treating you well?"

Amongst the myriad of concerns and worries Khalid must have had after the two of them fled Fódlan to Almyra with nothing but their lives and his shaky, mostly ceremonial claim to the throne, the only ones he openly showed was that the court may treat her harshly. It wasn't difficult to see why; they already hated him and his mother for their association with Fódlan, so the fact he brought back yet another Fódlan woman with him after years of being absent must not have been a good look. 

"Of course. They're people who have been verified by your parents, after all."

"...That's good, that's good."

Nonetheless, she was likely in a better position than her predecessor, thanks to the former king and queen hovering around to make sure she wouldn't be in harm's way. 

As for Khalid—

"You should really be getting back to work now," Lysithea said, now being the one to fluff his hair. "Giving people the impression that you're negligent in your duties won't bode well for the future."

—Khalid, once so roundabout in showing his love, was now both overwhelmingly affectionate and overwhelmingly protective, effectively deterring anyone who may have considered her an easy target. (Even those who always thought him a coward could tell that the threat of "personally tearing apart anyone who dared to touch the queen" wasn't a bluff, it seemed.)

"They already don't like me," he said. "No matter what I do, they'll find ways to nitpick and tear me down. That's not going to change."

And Khalid, once so eager about the future, now winced upon hearing it mentioned. 

Lysithea sighed and raised him back up, holding his face between her hands so that he couldn't look away. 

"Accomplishing our tasks now is going to make things easier for our children later. You know that, don't you?"

"I also know that spending time with you _now_ is just as important," he said, overlapping his hands over hers to stroke them.

 _Because we won't have the chance later_ , wasn't spoken out loud, but both of them heard it, knew it, better than anything else.

She would be lying if she said she didn't also feel the same way.

"Alright, then," she kissed him on the lips, keeping their faces close even after parting. "I'll let you stay, you big needy baby. But only if you make it up to me with some hot chocolate tomorrow, hmm?"

Khalid's eyes and mouth curved into smiles alongside a titter. "As you wish, Your Queenliness."

It was only then that Lysithea let herself fall into his arms, snuggling her face against his chest, listening to his heartbeats. She'd imagined doing this so many times back in their more carefree days, and she had done it many more times than she had fantasized about it over the past few tumultuous years. 

But it would never be enough.

No matter how many years she could spend with him like this, it wouldn't ever be able to satisfy the two of them. Both knew it well, yet they kept trying, because they'd learned that pushing down and holding back would ultimately cause more regret, of having missed out and wasted opportunities— something both of them hated to do. 

Somewhere, a stray thought whispered,

_If only time could stop and keep us eternally trapped here._

"...Lys? Are you crying?"

It was useless to try to hide it from him, so Lysithea inhaled and wiped her eyes against his tunic. "Y-yes, but mood swings are a regular side effect of pregnancy, so I'm not being childish or anything."

"I think it's perfectly understandable even if you are, since you do have two kids inside you."

"I do. Not sure what your excuse for still acting like a schoolboy is."

Despite her words, she continued to cling to him, now with their fingers interwined. Khalid chuckled and kissed the top of her head, before gently shifting both of them to lay on their sides, facing each other.

"A pretty simple one, really," he responded, gently pressing his lips to her knuckles. "It's because I'm in love."

And there he went again— making her feel so much with just a few words, ecstasy and sorrow and grief and everything in-between, making her _live_ instead of simply survive.

"...Just what am I going to do with you," Lysithea whispered, a spare teardrop still rolling down onto the sheets as her mouth quirked into a smile.

She answered her own question by kissing him yet again, over and over, until rest of the world melted away, until time melted away, until they were suspended in a perfect eternal moment. 

* * *

* * *

* * *

* * *

In the eastern region of Fódlan formerly known as Ordelia, the weather was still chilly in late Pegasus Moon.

"Whoo! Finally! That stuffy meeting's over— time to explore!"

"Try not to electrocute anyone. Immortal Corps is gonna be real pissed if you cause trouble while we're in Mom's homeland."

"You shut your pie hole, Judah. Unless you're volunteering be the first victim."

"Daaad, Nadia's threatening severe bodily harm on me~"

Khalid chuckled and inhaled the cool air, amusedly watching his two children bicker and throw snowballs at one another. They were back to their usual rowdy selves after being mature, well-behaved, and even charismatic at the diplomacy meeting earlier; something Lysithea would definitely be proud of, he thought. 

"Pick a god and pray, dear sister," Judah bellowed, levitating multiple snowballs in the air as he chased Nadia.

Nadia quickly dove behind him, yelling, "Ack! Dad shield!" right as Judah fired, the white orbs spattering onto his purple coat one by one. 

His daughter shot away as quickly as she arrived, and Judah followed, doing his best to dodge the shower of snowballs Nadia rained behind her. With a hearty laugh, Khalid leaned down and gathered up some snow of his own, throwing it in the twins' general direction (and missing) before running up in their general direction. 

As if on cue, the twins jumped up and clung onto his upper arms, with Nadia yelling, "Dad! Do the spin thing!" and Judah nodding along, saying, "Yeah, let's do the spin thing, we haven't done that in a while."

"Alright," he said, inhaling and tensing his muscles, "hold on tight!"

The air was filled with excited laughter and squeals as Khalid raised his arms, lifted his kids right off the ground, and spun— round and round and round, until the world was a blur of white snow and light sky. 

Several moments later, he slowed down and lowered his arms, Judah and Nadia still laughing as they hugged him around his waist. 

"Whew, you two are getting big," he said, hunkering over to wrap his arms around both of them. "I think you guys are going to have to spin me, in a year or two."

Nadia grinned and pat his face with a snowy gloved hand. "Pretty sure we can already do it, if we use magic! Wanna try?" 

"And accidentally kill our old man by dropping him on the ground?" Judah said, carefully lifting some loose snow off the ground behind him. "Let's stick to snow for now. Catch~"

"Son of a— get back here!!"

Once more, the two children sped off, chasing each other and kicking up a snowstorm in the field. Khalid slowly followed them around, laughing along and cheering from the side, until the two finally exhausted themselves and called a truce, falling onto the ground to catch their breath. It took a few minutes before they recovered enough to get back up and latch onto each of his hands as they always did, cheeks rosy and eyes slightly sleepy. 

"You two ready to head back?"

The sky showed the slightest hint of sunset as they nodded; there were no more meetings or official schedules for the week, so the three of them had several days' worth of free time on their hands now. 

Khalid pondered how to spend it as the three of them flew above the landscape as white as his wyvern, Judah and Nadia sleeping even as they held tight onto the reins. 

"...A cake for your birthday, maybe?" he said, into the distance.

"Dad...? Whatddya mean...?"

"Cake...cake's nice."

The Fódlan-Almyra embassy building, once known as Ordelia manor, came into view below them, the roof bathed in soft light.

"Just thinking out loud," he said, directing his wyvern to descend. "Say, what do you two think of going to the market tomorrow, and getting some baking supplies? Nobody uses the embassy kitchen, so we'll have it all to ourselves!"

"Cooking...yeah, that sounds good...!"

"You mean...baking..."

"...Shut up, Jud."

A warm smile crept onto Khalid's face, now effortlessly going all the way up to his eyes, the stiff feigned smiles but a distant past next to his greatest joys in life— or rather, _their_ greatest joys, he thought, looking into the sky.

And for a split second, the setting pink sun radiated a familiar warmth so beautiful that it could last an eternity.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're 18+ and interested in spicier content for these two, check out the [Lysiclaude NSFW Bingo](https://twitter.com/lysiclaudensfw?s=09)!  
>   
> [Join the Lysiclaude Discord!](https://discord.gg/GZmtGbw) (Adults only for ease of moderation, please note.)  
>   
> Feel free to leave prompts/suggestions on my [CuriousCat](https://curiouscat.qa/slotumn)!  
>   
> [My twitter](https://twitter.com/slotumn?s=09)  
> 


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